Justin Trudeau Faces Criticism Over Fund-Raisers in Canada

OTTAWA — When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prevailed in Canada’s election last year, he promised “sunny ways” and later pledged to hold his cabinet ministers to high ethical standards when it came to conflicts of interest and fund-raising.

Now, after being the chief attraction at a fund-raiser attended by wealthy businessmen, Mr. Trudeau himself is facing criticism from some who say he is not following his own rules.

On Tuesday, The Globe and Mail, a Toronto newspaper, reported that Mr. Trudeau spoke in May at a political fund-raiser held in the Toronto house of the president of the Chinese Business Chamber of Commerce. Most of the 32 guests paid 1,500 Canadian dollars, or about $1,100, to attend.

Among the nonpaying guests was Zhang Bin, president of the Beijing-based China Cultural Industry Association, a promotional agency under the control of China’s minister of culture. Not long afterward, Mr. Zhang and his group’s honorary president made a joint donation of 1 million Canadian dollars, or about $741,200, to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, which includes Justin Trudeau’s brother among its board members, and the University of Montreal law faculty. The donation included funds for a statue of Pierre Trudeau, the former prime minister and Justin’s father, at the law school.

The article was the latest in a series by The Globe and Mail that suggests, opposition members of Parliament say, that donors get privileged access to members of Mr. Trudeau’s cabinet in exchange for cash, which can sometimes be as little as 500 Canadian dollars, or $370. Mr. Trudeau has maintained that no rules have been broken or ethical boundaries crossed.

On Thursday, the questions over the May fund-raiser followed the prime minister to Liberia, where he was making a two-day visit. Speaking to reporters in Monrovia, Liberia’s capital, Mr. Trudeau rejected the idea that the large donation from Mr. Zhang and the Chinese association’s honorary president, Niu Gensheng, to the foundation named for his father could influence his thinking or the direction of government policies.

Mr. Trudeau said he had cut all ties to the foundation, which promotes and funds academic research in the humanities and social sciences, when he entered politics.

“I stepped down from any of my family-related responsibilities shortly after having gotten elected, in order to demonstrate that there is a tremendous separation there,” he said.

Mr. Zhang did not respond to a request for comment.

Efforts by Mr. Trudeau and his cabinet members to defend the fund-raisers have not placated opponents.

“Not only does this event break the prime minister’s own ethics rules, but it does not pass the smell test,” Rona Ambrose, the interim Conservative leader, told the House of Commons on Tuesday. “He could stop this right away. Why does he not?”

Compared with the United States, Canada has severe limits on political donations. A fund-raising scandal in the late 1990s involving a Liberal government led by Jean Chrétien prompted changes that banned donations by unions and corporations and that limited individual donations to parties to 1,525 Canadian dollars, or about $1,130, a year. Only Canadian citizens may donate.

After The Globe and Mail reported on fund-raisers involving some members of Mr. Trudeau’s cabinet, Mary Dawson, the independent conflict of interest and ethics commissioner, told a House of Commons committee the sessions did not break any laws, but noted that she had repeatedly called for stricter rules.

On the way out of the committee room Ms. Dawson told reporters that the fund-raisers were “not very savory.”

Mr. Trudeau’s critics argue that even if the events break no laws, they seem to be in direct conflict with the stringent and much publicized ethics rules he set down for his cabinet.

“There should be no preferential access to government, or appearance of preferential access, accorded to individuals or organizations because they have made financial contributions to politicians and political parties,” Mr. Trudeau’s rules state.

When they were in power, the Conservatives held fund-raisers that sometimes cast the party in an unflattering light.

Lisa Raitt, a former cabinet minister from Toronto, became the subject of an investigation after a prominent lobbyist organized one of her fund-raising events. While Ms. Dawson cleared Ms. Raitt, she called for tighter rules related to fund-raisers, a request that so far remains unheeded. Ms. Raitt is now campaigning to lead the Conservatives.

Mike Storeshaw, a spokesman for the Conservatives, said that when the party was in power, guest lists at fund-raisers were vetted and anyone who did business with the government was asked not to attend. He acknowledged that the system was not always perfect.

Since The Globe and Mail began publishing its articles, the Liberal Party decided to bar lobbyists from fund-raisers attended by cabinet ministers they lobby. This month, the chairman of a large generic drug company based in Canada pulled out of a group organizing an event attended by the federal finance minister.

In an editorial this week, The Globe and Mail proposed that Mr. Trudeau go much further and reduce individual donations to a mere 100 Canadian dollars, or about $74.

“Dropping them to just $100 per person would price cash-for-access fundraising out of business for good,” The Globe and Mail wrote.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A12 of the New York edition with the headline: Trudeau Faces Questions of Whether Donors Are Given Special Access. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe